Highway between Penticton, Kelowna still closed by rockslide
Posted August 30, 2023 3:23 pm.
Last Updated August 30, 2023 3:50 pm.
A stretch of Highway 97 that connects Penticton to Kelowna remains closed near Okanagan Lake Provincial Park due to a rockslide.
It’s unclear when the road will reopen, with DriveBC saying geotechnical assessments are underway and that detours are in place along Highway 5A, Highway 3, and Highway 33.
But those detours add hours of travel time.
Penticton Mayor Julius Bloomfield says the rockslide happened Monday. He admits the closure is affecting people who travel for work, appointments, and more.
“We do have a couple of routes that people can go on so it’s not impossible, it’s just inconvenient,” he explained in an interview Wednesday.
“It’s a pretty drive on Highway 3 so if you’re coming to the south Okanagan, that’s the route, and that’s where the supplies are coming in so we’re not feeling any shortages here.”
⛔️NO CHANGE – #BCHwy97 Landslide between #Summerland and #Peachland has it closed pending geotechnical assessment. Detour not available. Alternate route available via #BCH97C, #BCHwy5A, and #BCHwy3 or #BCHwy33. Next update 8:00AM August 30th.
— DriveBC (@DriveBC) August 29, 2023
Dan Ashton, MLA for Penticton, agrees the closure is having an impact on residents. But he’s not taking issue with the way the situation is being dealt with — it’s how it’s being communicated that has him concerned.
“Everybody’s electronically connected now with their phones and their iPads or whatever, so that opportunity is out there. I’m not asking for continual updates because, again, I think the ministry is doing a good job. It’s just, tell the people what they want to hear,” he said.
Ashton says he feels the Ministry of Transportation is doing a good job with the highway. However, he admits he’d like to see more communication with the public so residents can be well informed and be able to plan.
“We can’t just say, ‘Look at DriveBC in the next four hours and see,’ because it gets people’s hopes up. We need to say, ‘This road is going to be affected for a period of time.’ Now … I do not know what that is, but I really think the ministry needs to be proactive,” he said.
The next update from DriveBC isn’t scheduled until 8 a.m. Thursday. CityNews has reached out to the Ministry of Transportation for comment on this, but has not yet heard back.
“My accolades go out to the ministry because of the difficult situation they’re dealing with. All’s I’m asking is that they be a bit more proactive, and on the word of proactive, I have asked for numerous years that the ministry take a look in making improvements,” Ashton explained.
While he’s sympathetic to the frustrations, Bloomfield says you can only share information when you understand the situation at hand.
“Right now, the geotech engineers are looking at it and geotech engineers being engineers, they’re not going to say anything until they’ve done a full evaluation. It just requires a little bit of patience on the part of people. Let the engineers do their thing and then come back with a full evaluation and then we’ll know where we stand. Without that evaluation, we’re only guessing anyway,” he said.
In addition to the highway closure, the rockslide has put several properties on evacuation alert.
